With little heat promised in this year's race for parish president, St. Tammany political watchers turned their gaze to the assessor's race for campaign drama.

Patricia Schwarz Core, left, and Louis Fitzmorris are in a runoff for St. Tammany Parish assessor.

And when five challengers signed on to oppose St. Tammany Parish Assessor Patricia Schwarz Core's bid for a sixth term, they got their wish -- and then some. Core led the six-candidate field Saturday, but not by enough to stave off a Nov. 19 runoff against Abita Springs Mayor Louis Fitzmorris, who finished behind her.

Core took 39 percent of the vote to Fitzmorris' 22 percent. Over the next few weeks, both candidates will be scrambling to hold on to their base, while grabbing as much of the uncommitted votes as possible.

Fitzmorris has commitments from Vince Accardo and Jimmy Renfroe, who combined for almost 12 percent of the vote, to back his runoff candidacy. Third-place finisher Trey Blossman III, who tallied more than 20 percent of the vote, said Monday that he plans to meet with Core and Fitzmorris later this week and will determine after those meetings whether to back either candidate. He said both candidates had called him to seek his support.

"I'm not a politico; I don't really like being in this position," he said.

Nonetheless, Blossman said, he might "embrace" one of the remaining candidates if they are willing to commit to some of his campaign platforms, namely increasing the training of Assessor's Office staff.

Fifth-place finisher Gretchen Cowart, who received 7 percent of the vote, could not be reached for comment.

Core said Saturday's results didn't surprise her.

"I knew it would be almost impossible to win; the vote was so split up," she said. "I was really pleased with the outcome. I was No. 1."

Outside her party Saturday night as the returns were being tabulated, Core said she wasn't able to devote as much time to the campaign as she had wanted, due to the workload in her office. But she said she plans to take some vacation time in the coming weeks to hit the campaign trail harder.

Asked if she needs Blossman's support to win, she replied, "I need everyone's support."

She said she thinks her support will grow as the supporters of the candidates who didn't make the runoff compare her and Fitzmorris' qualifications.

Following the conventional political wisdom that an incumbent isn't likely to win over those who voted against them in the first election, Fitzmorris said Monday he doesn't know how Core can gain much additional traction during the runoff campaign.

"The election showed that over 60 percent (of the voters) voted for change," he said. "That is significant."

University of New Orleans political scientist Ed Chervenak said Saturday's election shows "there clearly is some dissatisfaction with (Core)."

But he thinks Fitzmorris will have a tough time unseating her. While her showing wasn't very good, Chervenak said, she still had many more votes than Fitzmorris.

"So he faces an uphill battle -- more than her," Chervenak said.

Voter turnout and money also will play a role in the runoff.

Turnout for the primary was around 30 percent. But because there will be a significantly smaller ballot in November, with no statewide races and only a single parishwide race, both campaigns will have to work even harder to get out their vote as well as convince less-invested voters to head to the polls.

Meanwhile, Core enjoyed a huge fund-raising advantage over her opponents, bringing in at least $269,000. As of Oct. 12, the latest reports filed with the state, she had $170,899 on hand -- much more than the $5,883 Fitzmorris had remaining.